HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

The second in a nationwide series of meetings of the Congressional National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, this one in San Francisco, heard personal testimony and policy recommendations to stem prison rapes from rape survivors, state and federal lawmakers, police and prison officials, and mental health experts.

Created by the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act, the commission is assessing the prevalence, cause, and potential solutions to prison rape. "We really don't know the prevalence right now," conceded Washington Federal District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton, who chairs the commission.

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On July 31, the Justice Department reported that an estimated 8,210 incidents of sexual abuse and rape occur annually in prisons, which now hold more than 2.1 million people. [This statistic is ludicrously low-- editor.] Prison assaults rose 26 percent from 2000 to 2004, according to the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Many experts said the problem is exacerbated by overcrowding, staff shortages, and budget cuts.

California is working to streamline and centralize investigations of sexual-abuse accusations, Roderick Hickman, who was appointed secretary of the state Department of Corrections last month, told the panel. However, its information technology is "completely inadequate" to the task and has stalled progress, he said. DOC also created training programs to break a "code of silence" among guards, which encourages prison rape. All of the prison-rape survivors testifying said they felt their rapes could have been prevented if authorities had placed them with inmates of similar age, race, sexual orientation, and category of crime.

Editor's Note: from the New York Times